The present invention relates to a novel construction for a fingerboard for a stringed instrument such as a guitar.
The scale length of a stringed instrument is defined as the "vibrating string length" or "speaking length" of a particular string on an instrument. The "vibrating string length" is fixed by the location between the nut and saddle along the fret board found on the neck portion of the instrument. The "scale length" lends a "color" to the overall tone of the instrument. For example, a guitar manufacturer typically chooses a scale length for all the strings of a guitar e.g. Gibson-twenty four and five/sixteenths inches: Fender-251/2"; Martin-24.9". Each particular scale length chosen accentuates various harmonic components of the vibrating string. In addition, different scale lengths require different string tensions, which in turn affect the string harmonics. It should be noted that a chosen scale length will also have a particular fret spacing to coincide with the related pitches of the fretted notes. For example, "The Electric Guitar: It's History & Construction", Rickenbacker, 1974, Pg. 80 & 81 includes published tables for accurate fret spacing measurement.
Unfortunately, fixing a scale length for a guitar, for example, limits tonal flexibility in that improving the tone of the lower strings causes the tone of the higher strings to suffer and visa versa. That is to say, "flabby" sounding low strings may be tonally improved by increasing the scale length and tension of such lower strings. At the same time, the tension of the treble strings must be increased, making such strings difficult to play and creating a tonal imbalance.
A stringed instrument which includes different scale lengths for the treble and bass strings would be a great advance in the design of stringed instruments.